Smokey and the Ark

During the time all of this was happening and by this I mean Mary’s new self-respect for herself and her increasing faith, two incidents occurred to occupy her time. First, Whitey, the stray cat that inhabited her sunroom since the beginning of winter disappeared. Mary had taken him in during the freezing cold because she felt he would certainly die outside in the bitter weather. Whitey stayed there all winter eating and sleeping. When spring came he continued to stay indoors with little or no desire to venture outside. Mary had to force him out at times just to get some fresh air. But if she hadn’t of done that Mary thought he would have never gone out again. He had been out on the street obviously, a long time and was just glad to be fed and cared for.
Then it happened one day suddenly without warning. It was early morning and Mary was getting ready to take her husband, Robin to work. She went outside to put bird food in the feeder and the next thing she knew one of the cats was crying. She didn’t think it was Whitey because he had such a raspy voice. This vocal outburst resonated. It was more like one of her other cat’s calls. However, when she went inside Whitey was the only one there. He seemed very frightened and acted so strange as if Mary was some intruder. He seemed to be on the defensive.
Before she knew it he went running for the front door which Mary opened and he ran off like some wild rabbit being chased by an invisible dog. That was a week ago. Mary never saw Whitey again.
Within a few days of that incident Mary got numerous calls from her friend Carolyn regarding some feral kittens she had seen running around in her back yard. There was one gray long haired Persian looking one. She said it hissed and spit at her and frightened her.
Mary decided to go over to see if she could see it. The first time she went over there was no sign of it. Mary told Carolyn if she wanted to catch it then she needed to buy some food for it and attract it that way. Apparently Carolyn did that for the next day she phoned Mary all excited. The little kitten was back but Carolyn was frightened of it.
Mary couldn’t believe the size of the beast that Carolyn was frightened of as it was no more than a few ounces in weight and mostly fluff – like a pompom ball. It sat between two garbage cans looking up scared and exhausted and Mary thought, possibly dehydrated with the heat. Instantly, Mary went into action.
She said to Carolyn,” do you have any towels or blankets we can try to cover it with?” With that Carolyn dug into the garbage can where she had just recently thrown out an old quilt. One cloth might not be enough as the kitten took to running alongside the wall of the house as soon as they approached it. It was heading for the driveway to the front of the building!
“I’ll go around front, Mary suggested to Carolyn, “and we can corner it between the two of us.”
As Mary approached from one end and Carolyn from the other the little thing snuck under the neighbour’s fence which was between them. Carolyn then went around to the neighbour’s house and into his backyard with her cloth in tow. Mary watched and directed as Carolyn slowly dropped her towel down over the kitten all the while pleading her fear of being attacked by this ferocious beast. Mary could do all she could to keep from laughing until Carolyn shared she had some traumatic incident with a cat as a child.
Presently, Carolyn quickly scooped up the kitten in the material. She held it out at arm’s length towards Mary. Mary grabbed the bundle of joy close to her chest feeling the trembling fear of the struggling tiny baby.
It was love at first sight for Mary but who doesn’t fall in love with an infant? Not everyone, Mary soon found out. Carolyn didn’t want it, Mary’s friend two doors over from her rejected her offer as well, and so Mary decided to take the little thing into her home and heart. When Robin saw it that night, he too, had fallen hard for him. Apparently, Robin's grandfather had a cat very much like it he called “Smokey”. So you can guess what the new baby’s name became, can’t you?
The little guy has been upstairs for three days now living in their bathroom. At first, Mary had to deal with Smokey’s fear of her. Carolyn and she had put him in a cage and when she got home she had to take him out to feed him as he was skin and bones. Mary looked down into the cage at the snarling grey mass that sat at the far back of the cage.
With a quick move Mary, using one of her towels, grabbed the baby as quick as anything and pulled him to her. Smokey couldn’t move as Mary had his body bundled like an Eskimo baby. Because Mary only had dry cat food for her adult cats she took some soft dog food she had and stuck it up to his mouth.
He didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Mary realized he had never had food before and was still on his mother’s milk which must have been all but dried up by now! Mary decided to force feed him and pushed a little between his lips. He realized it was food! Hunger overcame his fear and aggression and the little kitten gave in. He almost bit off Mary’s fingers in the process! Wisely, Mary filled a bowl while holding him and watched Smokey demolish it. Holding the baby in one hand she refilled the bowl again and held it back up to his mouth. Once again the little lion stopped hissing and ate a second basin.
Mary began to coo and talk to it and knew that reassuring voices and much touching would be the only solution to his wildness. Within two days, he began to stop hissing, and began purring. In three days he rolled over and let Mary rub his tummy and play with him. More was yet to come but for now Mary enjoyed the presence of this little gift from heaven. Mary laughed to herself as she thought of this latest addition to their brood. One had been taken and another given. But that is not what amused Mary. It was the fact that Mary overheard Robin call their house “the Ark” to someone just the other day.
It was this epithet that reminded Mary how precious these little creatures were to God as she recalled the story of the flood. Noah had been commanded by God to get a pair of every living kind of animal into the ark he had Noah create. Mary hadn’t thought of it before but realized God must have cared about these animals as much as he did humans to make sure they survived the flood.
Mary thought to herself: what was one more feral cat to feed especially if she was doing God’s work? Smokey would be added to the Ark, another joy to remind her just how awesome and beautiful her God was. Mary looked down at her little baby and smiled a huge smile. The best was yet to come!